Various laboratory and processing procedures require that cuvettes and other like vessels such as test tube be supported in racks and the racks, in turn, be disposed in beakers or the like. Currently available racks for the purposes described are of a unitary construction. This requires more storage space than is desirable and increases shipping costs, as the case may be. Further, the vessel support portions of these racks are not removable, which detracts from their versatility in accommodating a variety of vessel sizes and desired holding capacities. Moreover, if the racks are of a molded plastic material, as is common in the art, the molds for such unitary racks are costly and add to the ultimate cost of the rack.
Accordingly, a need has been recognized for a circular rack which overcomes the aforenoted disadvantages of the prior art racks.
The present inventor is aware of the following U.S. Pat. Nos. in Class 211, Sub-classes 73X, 74 and 74X which relate generally to test tube racks: 1,021,998 (1912); 1,188,146 (1916); 1,054,035 (1913); 3,062,380 (1962); 3,390,783 (1968); 3,379,315 (1968); and 3,474,913 (1969). However, none of these racks are circular so as to serve the purposes intended and are otherwise structurally different from the herein disclosed invention.